Rebecca E. Scott

Towards improved labour standards for construction of minor works in low income countries

Purpose – The construction industry is one of the largest employment providers in the developing world. It is also one of the least safe industries, with a high frequency of accidents resulting in financial losses, injuries, disabilities and deaths. Decent working conditions and resulting improved worker satisfaction are key to sustainable productivity in the industry. International standards safeguarding construction workers are abundant and ratified by most low‐income countries. This paper aims to examine if these standards are adequately reflected in contracts for construction works; and if they not, how contract clauses can be improved and put into operation.Design/methodology/approach – Based on research undertaken in Ghana, India and Zambia from 2000 to 2003, this paper explores the aforementioned points. The paper comprises analysis of contract clauses from the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) and developing country contracts, along with case study findings.Findings – This p...

Faecal sludge in Accra, Ghana: problems of urban provision.

Urban on-site sanitation services present challenges for emptying, transporting, disposing and treating faecal waste. Transfer stations can be used by household-level emptiers to safely dispose of faecal sludge, but they rarely exist. Accras use of transfer stations has provided an opportunity to research their functioning, as part of broader faecal sludge management arrangements. The paper discusses the benefits offered by use of transfer stations, as well as reasons currently limiting their operation. While costs associated with operating and emptying these stations are passed to householders, an illegal sector thrives offering lower cost emptying services, typically with disposal of faecal sludge directly into the environment. At present, bucket latrines offer sanitation services to low-income households unable to afford higher service levels, such as septic tanks. The local government aims to phase-out all bucket latrines by 2010, but affordable alternatives have not been found. Where limited access to land inhibits investment in permanent facilities, families may abandon household sanitation altogether. The paper concludes that correct use of transfer stations can provide improvements for existing faecal sludge management and reduce indiscriminate dumping. They must be made available to all workers, through effective public-private arrangements for ownership and operation.

Sanitation policy: making it work

A sanitation policy provides the framework within which efforts to improve sanitation can move from isolated projects to national programmes. But policy can only make a difference if people own it and are prepared to implement it.

Emergency sanitation: developing criteria for pit latrine lining

Pit latrine linings for emergency sanitation facilities require different performance criteria from those for pits used in longer-term development work. Various international initiatives are currently under way to develop new methods of supporting the pits used for latrines in emergencies, but before a solution can be found, the problem needs to be defined. Current field guidance lacks the level of detail required by humanitarian workers to construct durable pits in a timely manner. Consultations with international humanitarian field staff and UK-based geotechnical engineers were used in this research project to identify design, construction, and operational requirements of emergency pit-lining systems. However, rather than closely defined performance requirements, the study identified a wide range of criteria that need to be considered and clear distinctions between emergency and longer-term solutions. Latrines constructed in the initial stages of emergencies are likely to be communal, with long rectangu...

Fecal sludge management : diagnostics for service delivery in urban areas - summary report

Urban sanitation remains a significant challenge for most low- and middle-income countries. The urban population of the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) more than tripled between 1990 and 2015. While access to sanitation in LDCs has increased in relative terms, in absolute terms the number of people using unimproved sanitation has increased. Under the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is now a focus on the whole sanitation service chain from containment through to disposal. The challenge for urban sanitation under the SDGs is therefore not only to achieve universal access to toilets, but also that all excreta is safely managed along the whole sanitation service chain. This document provides a summary of the diagnostic tools developed for assessing FSM services and is based on field work carried out in the five cities of Balikpapan in Indonesia, Dhaka in Bangladesh, Hawassa in Ethiopia, Lima in Peru and Santa Cruz in Bolivia. It summarizes the tools themselves, lessons learnt about their use, and general policy recommendations.

Achieving sustainable sanitation chains through better informed and more systematic improvements: lessons from multi-city research in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper presents the synthesised findings of the SPLASH Urban Sanitation research programme through the framework of the sanitation service chain. Urban sanitation service chains are complex and fragmented, involving a multiplicity of service providers and typically resulting in unsustainable or inadequate services. The aggregate data set covers a wide range of research methods including; household surveys, a randomised control trial, a willingness to pay survey prototype testing of technologies, focus group discussions and deliberative forums. Thorough the research, it has been possible to identify situations where incremental improvements are being made with varying degrees of success. Most importantly, it has identified weaknesses to the sanitation service chains where progress is either slow or extremely limited. It is through these weaknesses that key questions affecting the long term sustainability of sanitation service chains need to be answered.